Does Fostering Really Help Children?

Our foster care families create space in their homes and their lives for these children, who benefit greatly from consistency, caring, patience and support. The impact on both the youth and the family can be profound. 

Breaking Family Cycles

Kathy’s childhood was difficult.  She was neglected for most of her life and was introduced to drugs at a young age. She was removed from her home and began living in a group home as a young teenager. She became pregnant and was moved to a Savio foster home so she could receive better support. 

Kathy learned the importance and value of family. With the support of her foster mother, the teenager was able to have a healthy pregnancy while preparing herself as best as possible for becoming a teenage mother. She was successful in maintaining her own sobriety, getting a job, and gaining independent living skills. 

She gave birth to a healthy daughter, Jessica. She continued to utilize her foster mother as one of her strongest supports when her daughter was young. 

With her foster mother’s support, Kathy was determined to give her daughter a better childhood.  She maintained custody of Jessica throughout her placement and became more and more independent.  

Eventually, she emancipated with her child to her own home - while still leaning on her foster mother to provide the emotional support and advice to become a strong young woman and mother.  Her confidence began to grow and she beat the odds by graduating from high school. She is now attending college to become a nurse and continues to excel as a parent. Today, Kathy is quick to credit her foster mother for the support and love she provided her when she needed it most. 

Time apart can be just the thing that keeps a family together

Tracy and Tristen were removed from their parent’s home.  The siblings originally went to live with their maternal grandmother - who was already taking care of their older cousin. However, the three had all experienced significant trauma at a young age and had complex emotional and behavioral needs as a result. The grandmother struggled to manage the three children, especially the younger siblings. She made the heartbreaking decision to reach out to the county, who placed the children in foster care. 

The siblings moved in with a Savio foster family and began receiving individual and family therapy. The foster family received training to help them understand how the kid’s experiences contributed to their behaviors.  The foster family provided crucial stability and love for the children to begin to heal. Meanwhile, the family therapy and visits with their Grandmother was strengthening the family’s bond. Grandmother felt better able to parent the children and meet their needs and welcomed them back into her care after a year of being apart. When Savio checked back in with her a year later, she had formally started the adoption process. 

Sibling Connections

Tiffany and Caleb's mother was arrested.  In an instant, the teenagers’ world was turned upside down.  The county needed to find a place for the two young children immediately.  Unfortunately, due to the unavailability of foster homes that could support two children, they were initially placed in separate foster homes. They had two-hour visits with each other every other week. 

The two children managed the chaos as well as could be expected and had minimal behavioral problems. However, they would both go missing for hours at a time and refused to share where they had been.  The foster parents worried about the list of troubling behaviors they could be getting into - until they discovered they just wanted to spend more time with each other.  

After a couple of months, a new foster family stepped up and offered to take both children into their home. The children began to thrive together.  They lived for two years together in their new foster home. Their mother was released from jail, and Caleb moved back in with her. Tiffany moved out on her own. She began supporting herself with a full-time job while taking night classes at a local Community College. She plans to become a social worker. 

You can also hear from a foster child and her mother by listening to our podcast, The Foster Family!